NASCAR’s Busch brothers may not be famous because of their propensity for winning races, but they compensate nicely for that shortcoming by blowing up at anybody and anything that does them wrong on the racing oval, which is odd for someone to do when they have access to so a limitless amount of M&M’s. This was the case this weekend for younger brother Kyle, who freaked out at NASCAR officials after he drove too fast through a pit stop to avoid going a lap down, forcing officials to call him into the pits to serve a one lap penalty for his insolence. He took the time spent in his mandatory NASCAR timeout practicing a tried and true hand gesture that’s supposed to represent anger, and it worked quite nicely as officials penalized him an additional two laps as the gesture found its way onto national television through Busch’s in-car camera.
Busch, who complained over the radio that the penalty for the middle finger violated his ‘constitutional rights for everybody’, has since apologized for his hulking out.
Busch was penalized for speeding at Texas and called into the pits to serve a one-lap penalty. While sitting in his car, he held up his middle finger toward the NASCAR official standing in front of his Toyota. The in-car camera caught the gesture, and it was broadcast live before ESPN realized what Busch was doing. The network apologized and cut away from the shot.
NASCAR immediately penalized Busch an additional two laps and ordered crew chief Dave Rogers to get the driver under control. It led to a testy exchange between driver and crew chief, with Busch arguing that NASCAR was denying his right to free speech.
“They’re going against the constitutional rights for everybody,” Busch yelled over his radio. Rogers implored Busch to shut his mouth and serve the penalty. “Kyle, stop, please!” Rogers told him. “We all work too hard for this! You’re costing us. Bring it to pit road, park it for two laps.”
A friend of mine explained to me his NASCAR epiphany the other day, as though the idea of watching cars drive around in circles for three hours may look boring on paper besides the crashes, the real excitement lies in how quickly a pit crew can get a car a set of new tires and gasoline in under 10 seconds. Seeing as the Pep Boys my family usually frequents can’t figure out if my muffler works or not in under five hours, their abilities are quite a feat to marvel over, and when Busch has one of his petty freak outs over nothing it not only brings him down, it hurts the innumerable other people who work their heart out to ensure he has a fast car on race days and that’s unforgivable. Busch should have to race with oven mitts.
Kyle Busch Fined $25,000 For Giving The Finger At Texas Motor Speedway [Huffington Post]
